Given the title of this post, you may be wondering what on earth this could possibly be about. Well, deep within the bowels (sorry!) of Aristotle’s œuvre lurks this fragrant little gem regarding the defensive capabilities of the bison.
It tosses up dust and scoops out the ground with its hooves, like the bull. Its skin is impervious to blows. Owing to the savour of its flesh it is sought for in the chase. When it is wounded it runs away, and stops only when thoroughly exhausted. It defends itself against an assailant by kicking and projecting its excrement to a distance of eight yards; this device it can easily adopt over and over again, and the excrement is so pungent that the hair of hunting-dogs is burnt off by it.